Review: The roots of knowledge

Those who are unfamiliar with history often consider that it must be a stable discipline because it deals with the past, and so a history book can never be a hot property. True, the half-life of publications in this area is much longer than in many branches of science, but the latest clutch of history of science books belie the myth. They bristle with novel and challenging interpretations of the development of science, as well as new information.

In making my choice I have ignored many excellent specialist monographs and have concentrated on the increasing number of books that are accessible to undergraduates and the general reader. An historical perspective on science raises the important question of why modern science arose in the 17th century. This standard topic is endowed with new life in Reappraisals of the Scientific Revolution, a collection of 13 original essays edited by David Lindberg and ...

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